North America

09 Aug 2021; MEMO: The United States has put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett not to change the rules of confrontation with the Iran-allied Lebanese Hezbollah movement as a new round of nuclear talks between Tehran and the world powers are set to begin in September, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres repeated his call on Sunday for calm on the Lebanon-Israel border.

"The secretary-general expresses his deep concern about the recent escalation between Lebanon and Israel across the Blue Line, including rocket fire into Israel and return airstrikes and artillery fire into Lebanon," said Guterres' press office in a note to correspondents.

The Blue Line is a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations in 2000.

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge on Sunday night granted Norwegian Cruise Line’s request to temporarily block a Florida law banning cruise companies from asking passengers for proof of coronavirus vaccination before they board a ship.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted the preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging the state’s “vaccine passport” ban, which was signed into law in May by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

(AP) --- Canada on Monday is lifting its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit, but the United States is keeping similar restrictions in place for Canadians, part of a bumpy return to normalcy from COVID-19 travel bans.

U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents must be both fully vaccinated and test negative for COVID-19 within three days to get across one of the world’s longest and busiest land borders. Travelers also must fill out a detailed on application on the arriveCAN app before crossing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Often elusive, the political center is holding steady in the Senate as a coalition of Democratic and Republican senators brushes off critics to push the $1 trillion infrastructure package toward final passage.

On the left, the Democrats have withstood the complaints of liberals who say the proposal falls short of what’s needed to provide a down payment on one of President Joe Biden’s top priorities.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 community transmission is substantial or high in most of the United States, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a weekly report on Friday.

Most U.S. states and jurisdictions are experiencing substantial or high levels of community transmission of COVID-19 driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, said the report updated by CDC on its website.

COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to increase, especially in communities with lower vaccination coverage, said the report.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- New Chinese ambassador to the United States Qin Gang has called on the two countries to join hands to combat the still-spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

"How about our two countries working together on solutions, e.g. more effective vaccines & helping other countries?" Qin tweeted on Friday.

The diplomat arrived in Washington in late July and is in a 14-day self-quarantine in his residence.

He said he is "fine in quarantine," but the rampant spread of the Delta variant is "concerning."

DENVER (AP) — When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated $400 million to help fund election offices as they scrambled to deal with the coronavirus pandemic late last summer, he said he hoped he would never have to do it again.

Republican legislatures are granting him that wish.

08 Aug 2021; MEMO: The vote to approve the annual US Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Funding Bill, which amongst other things green-lights Washington's yearly $3.3 billion unconditional aid to Israel, threw a major surprise this year.

GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) — After four years of homelessness, Kesia Studebaker thought she finally landed on her feet when she found a job cooking in a diner and moved into a house in the small community of Greenville.

She had been renting for three months and hoped the stability would help her win back custody of her 14-year-old daughter. But in just one night, a raging wildfire tore through the mountain town and “took it all away,” she said.